Joseph Pützer

Mathias Joseph Pützer (born September 1, 1831 in Würselen ; † October 20, 1913 in Aachen ) was a German school principal and co-founder and honorary member of the Association of German Engineers (VDI).

Live and act

The name of Pützer on the VDI monument (excerpt)

Joseph Pützer was the son of the teacher Johann Pützer (1807 – before 1843) and the midwife Anna Gertrud, geb. Kahlen (* 1810). After graduating from school in 1850, he attended the industrial institute in Berlin at the combined higher civil and provincial trade school in Aachen . During his studies there to become a mathematics and trade teacher, he joined the Academic Association Hut , which primarily dealt with the idea of founding an engineering association that engineering graduates can join after they have entered professional life. For this purpose, a commission of 17 members, including Joseph Pützer, was set up in 1855, who drafted a concept for the association to be founded. Under his chairmanship, the "draft for the statutes of the Association of German Engineers" was created, which was presented to the General Assembly on July 14, 1855, and discussed and adopted by it. This finally led to the establishment of the Association of German Engineers on May 12, 1856 in Alexisbad , where Pützer's name is also engraved on the VDI monument erected in 1931 . Later Pützer belonged to the founding board of the VDI in the years 1856/57 as well as to the boards of the years 1858 and 1873. In 1864 and 1865 he belonged to personalities such as Franz Grashof , Wilhelm Kankelwitz , Richard Peters and Gustav Zeuner of a VDI commission that dealt with engineering training and the organization of polytechnic schools .

After his studies, Pützer returned to Aachen, where a few months later he took the initiative to found the Aachen district association as a local branch of the VDI. On November 2, 1856, more than 30 men, mostly active in the local industry, came together for the constituent meeting of the new district association in the VDI, which quickly grew to over 100 members as the third regional division after Düsseldorf and Berlin . In 1871 he was one of the founders of the Natural Science Society Aachen .

Professionally, Pützer was taken on as a specialist teacher for mathematics, mechanics and engineering at the higher citizen school, later the Couvengymnasium Aachen , which had separated from the provincial trade school in 1851. In 1866 he was appointed director of the school, which under his leadership developed into a secondary school and upper secondary school and in 1866 moved to the Alte Redoute building at Comphausbadsraße 11 and finally in 1892 to the new building on Vinzenzstraße, built according to plans by Joseph Laurent . In 1900 Pützer retired.

In 1860, Pützer set about redesigning the subject of “spiraloidal engagement” in the field of gear technology according to the specifications of Théodore Olivier and introducing it in the German-speaking area.

Outside of work, Pützer was an avowed art lover, a committed draftsman and violinist. In 1877 he was one of the inaugurators of the newly founded Museum Association Aachen , sat on the festival committee of the Niederrheinischer Musikfest for almost 50 years and was chairman of the Aachener Liedertafel for many years.

For his services, Pützer was honored with the title of Royal Secret Government Council and in 1894 was made an honorary member of the Association of German Engineers.

Pützer was married to Elisabeth, b. Zander, who bore him nine children, including the future architect and town planner Friedrich Pützer . He found his final resting place in the Aachen Ostfriedhof .

Literature and Sources

Ingeborg Schild , Elisabeth Janssen: The Aachen East Cemetery . Mayersche Buchhandlung, Aachen 1991, pp. 512-514, ISBN 3-87519-116-1 .

Web links

Obituary by Joseph Pützer on histech.org

Individual evidence

↑ Manfred Beckert: The VDI in its early days , in: VDI Rheingau (Hrsg.): We combine competence , akadpress GmbH Essen 2014
^ Marie-Luise Heuser , Wolfgang König : Tabular compilations on the history of the VDI . In: Karl-Heinz Ludwig (Ed.): Technology, Engineers and Society - History of the Association of German Engineers 1856–1981 . VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-18-400510-0 , p. 568, 569, 572 .
↑ Manfred Beckert: The VDI in its early days . In: Association of German Engineers (ed.): Festschrift 140 years of VDI . Düsseldorf May 1996, p. 19 .
↑ Hans Christoff von Seherr Toss: The development of gear technology , Springer, 2013, pp. 121–124 digitalisat
^ Theodor Peters : History of the Association of German Engineers . Based on papers left by Th. Peters - Published on behalf of the board and completed by 1910. Self-published by the Association of German Engineers, Berlin 1912, p. 145-146 .

personal data
SURNAME	Pützer, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pützer, Mathias Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German headmaster and co-founder of the VDI
DATE OF BIRTH	September 1, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH	Würselen
DATE OF DEATH	October 20, 1913
Place of death	Aachen

[1] Manfred Beckert: The VDI in its early days , in: VDI Rheingau (Hrsg.): We combine competence , akadpress GmbH Essen 2014

[2] Marie-Luise Heuser , Wolfgang König : Tabular compilations on the history of the VDI . In: Karl-Heinz Ludwig (Ed.): Technology, Engineers and Society - History of the Association of German Engineers 1856–1981 . VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-18-400510-0 , p. 568, 569, 572 .

[3] Manfred Beckert: The VDI in its early days . In: Association of German Engineers (ed.): Festschrift 140 years of VDI . Düsseldorf May 1996, p. 19 .

[4] Hans Christoff von Seherr Toss: The development of gear technology , Springer, 2013, pp. 121–124 digitalisat

[5] Theodor Peters : History of the Association of German Engineers . Based on papers left by Th. Peters - Published on behalf of the board and completed by 1910. Self-published by the Association of German Engineers, Berlin 1912, p. 145-146 .